Opposition rises in Wachusett supt. search

Saturday

Mar 30, 2013 at 6:00 AM

By Sandy Meindersma CORRESPONDENT

Less than 24 hours after two finalists were named for the job of superintendent of the Wachusett Regional School District, opposition to the list has arisen from the school committee, staff and members of the public.

School committee member Stacey Jackson of Holden has requested that Darryll McCall, the district’s director of operations, be added to the list of finalists.

That request has prompted school committee chairman Duncan Leith to call a special meeting next week to discuss whether Mr. McCall should be considered a finalist.

Ms. Jackson said she was surprised and disappointed Mr. McCall had not been named a finalist.

“He has the experience and is very well-qualified to be considered for our next superintendent,” Mrs. Jackson said. “I am concerned about the message that we are sending to our staff if we do not at least consider someone who has successfully worked their way up in our district.”

Casey Handfield, Auburn High School principal, and Paul Schlichtman, coordinator for research, testing and assessment for the Lowell public schools, were named finalists Thursday. They were unanimously supported by the 10 members of the superintendent search subcommittee, who are all members of the school committee.

Mr. McCall applied for the superintendent’s position and was interviewed in executive session as a semifinalist, but was not named a finalist.

Support for Mr. McCall’s candidacy has come from the community as well.

Thursday, district parent Jon DiVito established a Facebook page called “I support Darryll McCall for Superintendent of the Wachusett Public Schools,” which has nearly 50 likes and comments from two school committee members and one district principal.

Mr. DiVito said he supported Mr. McCall’s candidacy for the position, and created an event that invites his friends to attend the special school committee meeting.

“Darryll has the education and the experience of working in this complicated regional school district as director of operations. He has worked his way up and was a bright light in a very dark time last school year,” Mr. DiVito said. “He deserves the chance to be a final candidate for the position.”

School Committee member Julie Kelley of Rutland also posted her support of Mr. McCall.

Mark Aucoin, principal of Davis Hill Elementary School, also voiced his support for Mr. McCall, citing his work ethic, integrity, familiarity with the district and education.

“This is a significant, disrespectful gesture to a man who does not deserve it,” Mr. Aucoin wrote. “Without good cause, and I currently know of none, I believe this committee has made a critical, long-lasting, error in judgment.”

Steven Hammond, chairman of the search subcommittee, said that the committee had received significant input from the community through surveys and focus groups, and that a significant number of respondents recommended the committee hire someone from outside the district.

“All the interviews were held in executive session, so I can’t even comment on whether he was interviewed,” he said. “But if the committee votes on Tuesday to name Darryll as a finalist, then we will be sure he gets a fair shake.”

Mr. Leith said the school committee will hold a special meeting Tuesday to take up Mrs. Jackson’s request. A second agenda item is to address allegations related to open meeting law violations. Mr. Leith declined to give any specifics about the item but said it was not related to the superintendent search.

“Stacey wanted to bring this up on April 9, but we wanted to get this done sooner rather than later, which is why we scheduled the meeting,” Mr. Leith said.